<p>I work for a small business that does quite a bit of printing. We have worked with the same printer, which was until recently a family-owned business, for over 20 years. Several years ago, I was organizing a big international conference in a city about 10 hours drive away. There were a lot of bigwigs including ex-Presidents of other countries, ambassadors, and a few foreign celebrities attending. For a number of reasons, we had to wait until the very last minute to print the program which was to be printed in the local plant and then shipped to another for binding. We had already moved from regular shipping to overnight shipping. I had a crew hired to stuff the programs and other items in bags waiting on Friday morning, and on Saturday attendees would begin arriving. There was no longer any margin for error.</p>
<p>The program was supposed to be printed over the weekend, and on Monday I got a call saying that the metal building had been struck by lightning over the weekend, and the printing didn’t get done. Things were pushed back now so that overnight shipping was no longer possible. We were looking at various options of my spouse driving and picking up the programs and bringing them to us, but our vehicle wouldn’t hold them all, when the Owner of the company called me. He assured me that I would have the programs by 7 a.m. Friday morning. He said instead of shipping them, he was sending their driver who normally did local deliveries to bring them. He had given the driver his personal credit card and instructed him that if he had any trouble he was to rent another vehicle and continue. At about 6:30 Friday morning, the driver called to say the programs had been delivered to the hotel loading dock. And to top it off, later that morning flowers arrived for me from our account manager.</p>
<p>tango, I was told a similar story awhile back. Our football equipment manager at school told me he had an incident either this past year or maybe a couple years ago where their helmets were behind on delivery. This is not exactly a new problem because our university won’t put the football equipment out for bid until the middle of the summer and of course practice starts August 1. Anyway, he said he was panicking because of the helmets and was up at 2AM before the first practice was supposed to start at 8AM that day. (He has a weird sleeping pattern and often sleeps in his office). He said he was in there working when a DPS officer walked into his office. The officer said that there was a guy looking for him. </p>
<p>The helmet company had hired a private driver to drive a van full of football helmets (a lot of them!) from Ohio to Cape Girardeau. It was like a 10 hour drive! And they arrived just hours before practice was to start… He said the guy turned around and drove back that same morning.</p>
<p>If you request, some companies will give you a first name & some extension number or some ID number. I write that down every time, in case I need it and include it in any correspondence–commendatory or otherwise. I have been very pleased in general with using “honey” to get most of my requests met. The other day, I called the boutique where I had purchased a 75% off jacket because after several years one of the cloth-covered buttons fell off & I couldn’t find it anywhere. They graciously told me that they’d provide another one if I wanted to stop by the store. :)</p>
<p>I also have called Delsey & asked them for a strap attachment so we could have our handcarry attached to our wheeled suitcase. They graciously sent us a strap, no extra charge, no hassles.</p>
<p>I also told everyone about our great experience with Columbia Sportswear–I asked them about what to do about my 10-year-old jacket that was shedding omnitech and they said if I’d send it back to them, I could choose a free replacement! I like the replacement even better than the original!</p>
<p>In general, it seems that many companies do provide great customer service and those are the places that will continue to get my patronage. So far, Charles Schwab is available by their toll-free number 24/7, as well as some more limited hours at the bricks & mortar place & I like them so far.</p>
<p>Have had our School of Public Health make me free posters for every conference when I needed one (after the first time when I paid Kinko’s over $100 for them to make me a vinyl poster that was too heavy to stay up well). The tech guy there is SO NICE that he spent hours and hours making everything fit & compatible with his computer & printer–have since learned to use powerpoint to do it. :)</p>
<p>Some of my pet peeves, if any customer service managers and/or business owners are reading this thread:</p>
<p>Please have your employees stop using the response “no problem” when a customer says thank you. The ideal responses should be simply “you’re welcome” or “my pleasure”, so a negative response gets eliminated. </p>
<p>Don’t allow your employees to chew gum! Even over the phone, you can usually tell.</p>
<p>Put the items I just purchased in my cart after you ring me up. I’m not on your payroll.</p>
<p>Don’t allow your people to chit chat about what they did last night in front of customers.</p>
<p>I recently graduated and for graduation my parents bought me an athletic training kit. I purchased it through MedPac (specialize in medical bags). I noticed last weekend I guess that the shoulder strap had torn like near the foam padding. I took a picture on my phone and emailed it to them. They sent me a new one within a couple of days and inside of the box was a pre-paid label to send the old one back. I took the new one out, put the old one in, taped the box shut and applied the new label. And sent it back!</p>
<p>I also had a good and not-so-good experience with my liability insurance company. Our program required we carry insurance as students (significantly cheaper than as professionals) but it’s good for a year from August. So I emailed the company to find out what I would need to do after graduation to get it switched to professional status. It took three emails (over the course of 6 months) for them to finally respond. But then they switched my status from student to professional at no charge. AND when it comes up again in August, I will get the “first year graduate” discount which means I’ll only pay 50% of the regular price even though I really will have already have that level of coverage for 8 months…</p>
<p>I sincerely wish I could boycott Blue Cross, but unfortunately we’re stuck with them, due to pre-existing conditions. frazzled, I’ll agree with your assessment of them as vile and criminal, but I’m not so sure about the incompetent part. I think they know exactly what they’re doing and you’re right, their horrible customer service is meant to discourage subscribers.</p>
<p>Telephone customer service in general is just awful. Whenever I have to call Blue Cross, Comcast, Verizon, B of A – any large company, I routinely set aside a half hour at least. First there is the phone maze, then there is the queue. When I finally get a human being, one of two things happens: either the rep doesn’t know the answer to anything I ask, so each question results in a 2-4 minute hold while they ask someone – or they have a script and if your question doesn’t fall within the script, good luck. Of course, businesses intentionally understaff their call centers because they want you to either give up and go away, or go to the website. It’s today’s business model.</p>
<p>Persistence is VERY important as the squeaky wheel really DOES get the grease, but you have to decide how much it’s worth your while to squeak. It took me two years and a lot of phone calls but for the past 8 years, I’ve had a good relationship with my BCBS (I should, as I have been covered by them all my life & hubby has since we were married).</p>
<p>It is true that customer service is not valued as highly as it really should be, which is quite sad. :(</p>
<p>Sure, but employees can have an assigned ‘fake’ last name to give to customers, so they are more personally accountable than a bunch of Bills or Susans.</p>
<p>As someone who works a Courtesy Desk at a department store in my area, I really do try to be as pleasant as possible and help any customer who comes along, no matter the issue…even if the customer becomes abusive.</p>
<p>We don’t have the option of saying “three strikes” and we’re done with you.</p>
<p>Just last night a customer told our night manager to “shove it up your a**” when she took issue with the price of a box of candy. Two nights ago I had a woman screaming at my counter for a manager and when I attempted to calmly find out what her problem was (to get the right manager upstairs) she screamed back at me “JUST GET ME ONE OR I’M GOING TO HIT SOMEONE!!” </p>
<p>I don’t see how a fake last name holds anyone more accountable. If you call a place and everyone has last name is smith that does nothing extra for you in regards to them being personally accountable. You don’t need their last name. Just the date and time that you called them is fine. With that information they can look up your phone call and see exactly who you were speaking with - regardless of what they said their name is. Someone could call the place I work and we could pull up their account and see the name of every single person they’ve ever spoken to, without them giving us any names. Believe me, customers have complained and gotten people fired (not that they didn’t do anything to deserve it, just making an example) without having their last name.</p>
<p>Lasma, sometimes when I call a place that has a telephone maze, I just start saying my name instead of pushing their options. More often then not, it says something along the lines of “I’m sorry, I did not understand you. Let me transfer you to blah blah blah for help with your issue.” Might want to try it next time. If you get the wrong person, they’ll send you where you need to be. :)</p>
<p>msmayor, I know that feeling all too well. The three strike rule only is in place when you are the customer. :)</p>
<p>Re the last names, this is really inexcusable for one reason - they can use employee ID#s instead. Back in the old days, even the phone company, pre divestment used operator #'s so that they could identify people - of course no recorded messages then. </p>
<p>That said, and I believe you fendergirl that you are courteous. I deal with insurance companies on a daily basis as I work in a doctor’s office. Almost no issue is resolved in one phone call, and while the people are generally not discourteous, many many of them are incompetent (no personal comment to you). This is across company lines. The best trained ones generally work for the medicare contractors, but they are following one specific set of rules. Where the Blues have a terrible problem, it is because they have so many policies, that it would be impossible for an employee to actually know what is in each person’s policy. The permitted labs vary; the deductibles vary; the referral policy varies; the coinsurance varies etc, etc. Each person’s coverage has to be checked, and even then some people have an in network deductible which differs from the out of network deductible. Then there is certification for procedures, preexisting condition limitations, drug coverage and I forget what else. Yes, they also goof up and someone inputs the wrong birthday, spelling of a name or drops the kids altogether. Just when I think I have seen it all, I get a new one.</p>
<p>And, because I work in a doctor’s office, I have been on the receiving end of a few phone calls that were a great deal less than pleasant. For the most part, people don’t behave like that when calling the doctor’s office, but there are always a few in any business who make no sense. </p>
<p>I recently had some very bad customer service from a mail order company. I had not ordered their items, my stolen credit card # was used. They were very unhelpful and basically did not want to even help me in returning the items. I called the credit card company who had already stopped the charges, just so they documented that the company was uncooperative. It is my hunch, based on this experience that somehow this company may have purchased the stolen #, but of course I have no proof.</p>
I can understand this, fendergirl, particularly today. It would be all too easy for a nutjob customer to track a rep down and do something awful. I’m sensitive on the issue of accountability, though, because my first job out of college was as a health claims rep for a major insurer’s biggest customer - and let me tell you, I was accountable. We were responsible for a particular section of the alphabet (last names Fr-Go, for instance). I still remember Mr. Gervacio and his 2-inch thick file and the sound of his voice 30-plus years later. He knew my last name and my middle initial, too.</p>
<p>Not saying this was a better system, and today’s fiscal realities would make it impossible anyway. I don’t see why there can’t be more identification than a first name, though. I realize there’d be a huge, hypocritical outcry against assigning numbers such as Susie 123. But let’s face it - customers are numbers to the insurance bigwigs, and so are the poor souls who answer the phones.</p>
<p>It’s great to hear validation from other Blues customers about their poor service. I knew it wasn’t just me and my bad attitude! :D</p>
<p>Can I make a suggestion? If I receive exceptional, very good beyond expected service from someone, I try to make it a point to tell someone about it. Their boss is a great starting place. I always expect to be treated nicely, if you go above and beyond you should be recognized for that.</p>
<p>I remember about three years ago I had a customer call me who was so very confused about all of the different insurance options that he had available to him. He called right before my shift was about to end. Two and a half hours later, I was still sitting there talking to him. He asked me what my shift was since I was there so late and I told him I was actually supposed to leave two hours prior but that that it was no problem to stay late and get him all straightened out. (no problem for me, some people do have kids to pick up and whatnot). He asked to speak to my boss who had left for the day… left him a voice mail telling him that I deserved a raise and a steak dinner, lol! The next morning my boss asked me why on earth he had a voice mail from one of my customers at 8 PM, haha! I was like well you know it took us awhile to get him situated and he was like well good job and thank you for staying with him, hope you got some dinner after you got home because I can’t afford to take you out for steak I have two kids to feed!</p>
<p>I’m pretty mild mannered but am very sensitive to good/bad customer service. I do make it a point to comment on excellent customer service and not just complain about bad service.</p>
<p>It makes me feel better to boycott stores/businesses that are rude.</p>
<p>For me, it is not just the bad experience but how/if it is resolved. If an entry level employee is rude and the manager addresses the issue apporpriately, I’m fine. Sometimes that is how people learn and get better.</p>
<p>Most recent BAD experience - Hyatt Hotels. They charged my credit card incorrectly and the person who initially handled my card was beyond rude. When I asked to speak to her mgr, she said there was no one available but would give them a message. Of course no one returned my call, so I had to call again. I made sure that I relayed the bad experience. About the 3rd person I talked to resolved the situation, but not with the helpfulness I expect from the hospitality industry. Will never stay there again.</p>
<p>GREAT experience - Costco Online Pharmacy. WOW! They went out of their way to help with a mix up in H’s prescription. His Dr changed it from a capsule to a tablet (Why??) which made the price go up from $7 to $40. I did not realize until it had been shipped. They made the correction and then CALLED ME to say instead of me sending it back, to keep it and they would credit me the difference. Did not want him to have issues. Amazing!!</p>
<p>I think I would have seriously been tempted to call the police in her presence and report that a person was threatening assault in my store. There’s only so much any customer service representative should be expected to tolerate. Who cares if you lose that person’s business?</p>
<p>When my children were in grammer school, I frequently had the job of soliciting raffle prizes for school events. Several companies, such as Best Buys and Panera Bread, were extremely gracious. Not only have I told other parents of their generosity to the schools, I will forever shop these stores that supported our young people.</p>
I am annoyed that often one has to opt-in to English language. As I read someone phrased it somewhere, I also don’t like being forced to volunteer in an English language immersion program for the customer service rep!</p>